Pucker up, round 2

My lovely friend Ashley designed Pucker Up back in January, and I eagerly knit one up from my stash -- Lily Sugar & Cream in Rose Pink.  The project itself displayed the pattern well, and the color of the yarn certainly added a pop to my wardrobe, but all in all it wasn't the best yarn choice.  In these harsh economic times, we must cherish frugality, careful not to spend where we don't need to.  That's why stash knitting is so great -- we get to craft new and beautiful things using what we already have.

Earlier this month, I made some purchases at KnitPicks and bought the yarn for my beloved Cladonia shawl and some Comfy Worsted to remake Ashley's design.

Round 2 is so much better.

Pucker Up by Ashley Aguilar in Knit Picks Comfy Worsted, Fairy Tale colorway

Ravelry Project Page

Comfy Worsted is unbelievably soft, I want to make a blanket out of it and stay wrapped up for hours.  I love the color, although I admittedly have a thing for jewel tones.  Unlike Sugar & Cream, Comfy shows off the pattern more and can hold the picots without losing definition.  The drape is amazing, and the hat turned out much slouchier than I anticipated.

Mods:

I used size 6 needles throughout because I still can't find my interchangeables.

I cast on for the medium size and knit the body in large because I wanted it slouchier.  It turns out that wasn't necessary.  Tip: If you knit the hat in yarn that can be blocked, there is no need to size up to get a slouchy hat.

Worried about yarn shortage, I knit the pleated sections two rows shorter than written, but it turns out I had some extra yarn anyway.

The pattern is quick and unique, and it can hold my giant curly lion mane so that's always a plus.  The construction is simple but the result is super sweet.  I was so grateful to size up from fingering yarn.

Cladonia

I have nicknamed Cladonia Yarnie: the yarn baby.

This pattern held my attention really well.  Especially in a fingering weight shawl, knitting through the body can be dreadful.  But this pattern is different; with color changes every two rows, you're constantly switching up what you're doing.  As far as yarn choices go, variegated is tops.  Watching the colors change adds a new component to the knitting project.  Golden Glow changes from a pale, near white yellow to warm, honey yellow with bits of bright, intense yellow.  The pink changes from pale, near white pink to cool, pastel pink and deep, near almost purpley pink and of course, it has bits of yellow.

Combined, there are spots in the shawl where the pink and yellow are nearly indiscernible.

In the edging, though, I didn't like the yellow bits in the pink.  I feel like it took away from the overall look of color completion.  But maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

Yesterday Eddie and I took a bunch of photos of the baby in action (after busting it out at the theater while watching Captain America).

I knit the pattern as written, except on 6s instead of 7s (can't seem to find my interchangeable needles).  I was apprehensive to do the looped picot edging, but it's really not that bad and the end product is beautiful.

I really, really love my yarn baby.

My new yarn baby

I picked up my knitpicks yarn on Monday and oh my god, it is glorious.

Stroll Tonal in Golden Glow and Queen Anne

I feel like these colorways were made for each other; the yellow has bits of pink, the pink has bits of yellow.  I started a new project with this yarn, Cladonia, and it is beautiful:

Cladonia by Kristen Kapur

More on the actual pattern later, but I'm really loving that the colors switch every two rows.  It keeps the pattern very easy to memorize and the variegation of the yarn holds my interest (especially with the pink, I am really interested in how the colors knit up).

Knitting so many beautiful things makes me want to keep designing, but I oh-so nervously dip my toes into the waters of design.   But this makes me happy:

Look at all those hearts!  I hope people make more projects though, I'd really like to see what people can do with my patterns.

I wonder what I should design next...